On R4 vthis morning a man who keeps a large herd of reindeer was talking about how he handles them. If he wants to move them, he goes in the field, attracts their attention and then sprints off, they follow him at the gallop! Here's what he said next.... " you get their attention and then sprint off. At this point it is a good idea not to trip!"

Stanley Challenger Graham
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net

"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!

Truly brilliant response - but I think here might only be me and you that understands it. It seems to have finally defeated Mr Google.

I had the bright idea of passing a sheet of A4 round the table and asking for interesting /relevant website addresses to be written on it. I put Oneguy at the top, and gave it a great plug - explaining briefly the charms of the town. I photographed the sheet, and spent the evening afterwards exploring the results. Amazing.

Quite remarkable - If I'd known to whom I was speaking to, perhaps I would have been more deferential, and perhaps not been so cheeky. I actually got a definitive and authoritative answer to my recent question about the power of local rivers to drive the many local mills. I'll tell you more later. Do you know what half a mill is? - I do now.

I laid on my mild 'Daily Mail' type views a bit heavily, but on two occasions I paused, and asked for anyone to point out, where what I had said wasn't true. There was no reply.

The Film Maker in residence to the University ( I was disappointed that he didn't know of Daniel Meadows) said afterwards he had enjoyed the debate, and a chap took me aside. and said he was PPE (Oxon), and agreed with almost every word I'd said, but subtly gesturing in the general direction of his 'partner', implied it was better she didn't know that.

I impressed the Mongolia man (of whom more later), with the brief video that I have on my phone, of Tuvan throat singing with wonderful background shots of their horses. His daughter (of course), is currently doing a serious study of Central Asian horses. Everyone should have such a clip - you never know when it will come in handy. I'll put it up on Youtube. You never know.

Tripps, There are those who try to be eccentric, and those who are eccentric but don't know it. Your 'Brains trust' sounds as though its firmly in the second camp. I'd love to see the list of web sites that 'normal' people think are interesting.

That's a brilliant post David.....
For any of you who are interested, "Not so much in the South I think" comes from the late great Stephen Potter's books on how to navigate life. It is the standard response to be used in any conversation where you are completely out of your depth.

Stanley Challenger Graham
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net

"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!

I once met a man who had a good line..... "I remember when I was at 23,000 feet in the Himalayas....."
Trouble was you knew it was true!

Here he is in the flat cap, Norman conning us over to Eigg in a small yacht between two Force 10 winds. His glasses were crusted with salt and he couldn't see a thing. Can't remember his surname but reputed to be the youngest submarine commander in WW2. An interesting and impressing bloke!

Stanley Challenger Graham
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net

"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!

Heard on World Service this morning in a discussion about Brexit in terms of a divorce from Europe. A lady diplomat asked the question..... "Where does the second marriage come from? Will anyone want to marry a disgraced divorcee?"
Good questions......

Stanley Challenger Graham
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net

"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!

From the Sunday press - disgraceful - it's enough to make you think about voting Labour!

"The vulture fund that owns HMV took almost £50m in fees out of the struggling music retailer during its five-year ownership, while HMV paid no corporation tax. The cost of any statutory redundancy payments will be borne by taxpayers."

Kenneth Heaton commenting on Surgeon Captain 'Peter' Thomas Latimer Cleave:
"...he was recording differences in disease patterns over time and space long before the epidemiology of chronic diseases was a recognised discipline … [and] he painted with broad strokes on the biggest possible canvas when others were focusing on ever more minute areas of investigation."
See We Are What We Eat: LINK

Fraser Nelson, editor of The Spectator, was speaking on The Long View episode on Divided Parties. He commented: `The Conservative Party is usually seen as cruel but effective. Without effective what have you got left?'

Heard this morning on Start the Week.
Talent is the ability do do something well that is extremely difficult. Genius is recognising and addressing something difficult that has escaped notice.
I may have got that slightly wrong but you get the drift...

Stanley Challenger Graham
Stanley's View
scg1936 at talktalk.net

"Beware of certitude" (Jimmy Reid)
The floggings will continue until morale improves!